Conventional electrical plugs can be undesirable because they typically include a housing designed to protrude a substantial distance from the outlet surface, such as, for example a wall when the plug is inserted into a wall outlet contained with the wall. This protrusion causes the plug to be susceptible to unintentional disengagement by: objects moving near the wall outlet, such as, for example persons or objects a person may be carrying; objects being placed close to the wall, such as, for example furniture, computing equipment, consumer electronics and the like; or any such other objects that may come into close proximity to a wall outlet.
Many varieties of electrical plugs have been developed which have low profile housings. These electrical plugs with low profile housings are advantageous because they have a reduced housing profile in comparison to conventional electrical plugs. As such, electrical plugs with low profile housings can be less susceptible to unintentional disengagement and may permit objects to be placed closer to a wall outlet, and therefore its associated wall, than is possible with conventional plugs.
Most electrical plugs with low profile housings include a power cord that exits the plug perpendicular to the prongs of the plug so as to decrease the profile of plug's housing. Therefore, when the plug is inserted into a wall outlet, the power cord exits the plug housing parallel to the face of the wall outlet. Unfortunately, this configuration may prove undesirable because it is possible for the cord to block other receptacles in the outlet after it exits the low profile housing. Blocking receptacles prevents additional plugs from being inserted into the outlet. This is even more of a problem with polarized plugs or plugs incorporating a ground prong since these plugs can only be inserted into the wall outlet in a single orientation. Additionally, many current solutions involving lower profile housings include numerous moving parts that increase the cost of the plug device as well as introduce additional failure points into the power distribution system.
Therefore, a need exists in the art to develop electrical plugs with low profile housings, higher reliability and include a reduction in cost, and related methods thereto that address such limitations of the current technology.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled, but not mechanically or otherwise coupled; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not electrically or otherwise coupled; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not electrically or otherwise coupled. Coupling (whether mechanical, electrical, or otherwise) may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
“Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. “Mechanical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types. The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.